Just a brief note. We spent the morning in the Old City in Jerusalem taking pictures. (I say "we" because I took the pictures and Frank sat in the shade and enjoyed the deep spiritual feelings in the narrow streets of the Old City.) Tomorrow (Thursday) evening the supporters of the Gush Katif settlers are planning a "hafganat anak" -- a giant demonstration -- in Tel Aviv. We saw so much orange today! I'll post two pictures.

There is quite a lot going on, as you might imagine, now 5 days before the disengagement begins. Tonight as I write (!) there is a huge demonstration at the Western Wall in Jerusalem being covered on television. Although several settlements have cleared already, their residents already having moved to other places, in many settlements everyone is still there, waiting until the end. Most settlers promise there will be no violence, but a small band of radicals, camped inside Gush Katif, promises to resist evacuation as strongly as they can. Sunday is Tisha B'Av, an annual day of mourning for Jews, when the destruction of the Temple in 74 BCE is remembered along with all the other tragedies of the Jewish people. A huge influx of religious people into Jerusalem is expected, with demonstrations against the disengagement.

Meanwhile two newspaper polls this morning say that Netanyahu would beat Sharon hands down in the Likud primaries if they were held today. (The primaries in Israel are only open to the members of the party holding the elections; they are not general. Whoever wins the most votes is the head of the party, and in a general election whichever party can muster a majority of votes wins, and the head of the party becomes the prime minister.) Ha'aretz, the left-wing newspaper that we read, had several columns which were (as expected) more than sharply critical of his resignation. Netanyahu has clearly made his bid for the far-right. Stay tuned!

Pat